1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to flexible garments made for protection from ballistic threats and against spike (or puncture) threats from sharp pointed instruments, such as picks, shanks, awls, or the like. Such garments must be as flexible as possible to ensure comfort sufficient that the garment will be readily worn. Flexible garments that provide for protection against such threats are also commonly known as body armor.
2. Description of Related Art
Body armor that protects the wearer against ballistic threats, or bullets, has been commercially available for some time.
Body armor that protects a wearer against spike (or puncture) threats became commercially available in the mid 1990s. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,358 (Foy et al) issued Nov. 26, 1996 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,771 (Chiou), issued Apr. 22, 1997, disclose flexible spike penetration resistant articles consisting essentially of fabric woven to a fabric tightness factor of least 0.75 from aramid yarn of less than 500 dtex.
Body armor made for protection against ballistic threats is not necessarily effective against spike threats. The converse is also true, that body armor that protects a wearer against spike threats is not necessarily effective against ballistic threats.
More recently, body armor to protect a wearer against multiple types of penetration threats, including spike and ballistic threats, in a single protective garment has become available. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,646 (Chiou) discloses a combination of layered structures to protect against spike and ballistic threats. The outer face is a penetration strikeface, and includes layers of fabrics tightly woven from aramid yarns of linear density less than 500 dtex. The inner face includes ballistic layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,470 (Bachner) discloses a spike resistant panel comprising a plurality of flexible layers of woven sheets having a weave of at least 60 ends/inch of aramid fiber, wherein with the aramid fiber is constructed of filaments, which provide from 50,000,000 up to 90,000,000 filament crossovers per square inch (from 7,750,015 up to 13,950,027 filament crossovers per square cm), and at least two sub-panels. This patent also discloses that the subject spike resistant panel can be combined with a ballistic resistant panel where the ballistic resistant panel is positioned at the strike face of the ballistic/spike protective garment, or the ballistic resistant panel is positioned between two spike resistant panels. Further, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,131,193 (Bachner) and 6,219,842 (Bachner) disclose a spike and ballistic resistant garment comprising a spike resistant panel with aramid fibers which provide from 50,000,000 up to 90,000,000 filament crossover per square inch (from 7,750,015 up to 13,950,027 filament crossover per square cn), and a ballistic resistant panel of at least one of woven fiber having greater than 90,000,000 filament crossover per square inch (than 13,950,027 filament crossover per square cm), and optionally a composite panel.